Because of the recent surge in new COVID-19 cases, the Fox C-6 School District will again require students, staff and visitors to wear masks in buildings. The requirement, which is temporary, will begin Thursday (Jan. 13) and is expected to end Jan. 21.
Board of Education members voted 5-2 Tuesday night (Jan. 11) to put the temporary mandate in place.
Board members Carole Yount and Krystal Hargis voted against the requirement, saying they wanted masks to be required longer.
“I’m 100 percent for a mask requirement,” Yount said. “I felt like we should do it for a longer period of time. I would have preferred to require masks through the end of the month. I thought 10 more days would have been better.”
“I believe it is all our responsibility to keep students and staff safe,” Hargis said. “After teaching 30 years, it is ingrained in me to protect other people's children. We are playing a guessing game about the peak of a virus. If we have learned anything from the last two years is this virus is unpredictable and there is no clear ending point. I would rather err on the side of caution and put a mask mandate in place until Feb. 1. This would hopefully put us on the predicted downhill side of the peak.”
Board member April Moeckel made the motion to require masks through Jan. 21 after Superintendent Paul Fregeau told the board a doctor from Washington University who studies COVID-19 and another infectious disease specialist advised area superintendents that infections from the COVID-19 Omicron variant is projected to peak and then drop either at the end of this week or the end of next week.
Board member Michelle Chamberlain seconded Moeckel’s motion, and those two, along with board president Judy Smith, Jim Chellew and Vicki Hanson, voted in favor of the temporary mask mandate.
“I think it was a decision based on what I presented tonight, and I appreciate that,” Fregeau said. “I’m sure (the reaction to the requirement) will be mixed, like it has been since we have been doing this. Some will be thrilled, and some will not be so thrilled. We are just doing the best we can to make the best decision with the data we have at the time we make the decision.”
Smith agreed.
“I felt like we needed to do something,” she said of implementing the temporary mask mandate. “We are following two different doctors’ guidance. It will go through Jan. 21, when they are suggesting it is going to peak, and I think it will bring things down. I don’t want masks, but we were all at a consensus for just a little a while.”
The Fox district began this school year Aug. 25 requiring people to wear masks in buildings.
The board voted Nov. 18 to change the district’s mitigation policy to strongly recommend but not require masks in district buildings, unless the percentage of students and staff who have tested positive for COVID-19 at any district school rises above 2 percent. If buildings reach that positivity threshold, then masks are required at that building for at least 14 calendar days. The positivity rate would have to fall below that threshold before masks are optional again, according to the mitigation plan.
Prior to Tuesday night’s decision, the district had announced that nine of its schools had reached or surpassed the 2-percent positivity threshold and mask requirements were in place at those buildings – Fox Middle School in Arnold, Antonia Middle School in Barnhart, Seckman High School in Imperial, Hodge Elementary School in Imperial, Seckman Elementary School in Imperial, Rockport Heights Elementary School in Arnold, Sherwood Elementary School in Arnold, Antonia Elementary School in Imperial and Guffey Elementary School in Fenton.
The district has 17 schools, as well as the Don Earl Early Childhood Learning Center and Bridges alternative school.
The mask requirement started at Fox and Antonia middle schools Monday (Jan. 10) after each school reached the 2 percent threshold. The mask requirements at those schools already were scheduled to end Jan. 21 as long as the positivity rate falls below 2 percent by that date, according to the district’s COVID-19 mitigation strategy.
The mask requirement started at Seckman High, Hodge Elementary and Seckman Elementary on Tuesday after each school reached the 2 percent. The mask requirements are scheduled to end at those schools on Jan. 24 as long as the positivity rate falls below 2 percent.
The mask requirement started at Rockport Heights, Elementary, Antonia and Guffey elementary schools today (Jan. 12) and is scheduled to end Jan. 25 as long as the positivity rate falls below 2 percent by then.
Fregeau said the requirement will remain in place at the seven schools that have the rule in place past Jan. 21, and if another school passes the threshold during the temporary mask requirement, that school will have the mask requirement past Jan. 21.
Smith said if positive cases do not decrease after next week, the district may consider extending the districtwide masking requirement past Jan. 21.
“If we see that cases are still rising, we will call a meeting,” Smith said. “I will probably call Dr. Fregeau on Jan. 20 and say, ‘Where do we stand?’ If we need to call a meeting on Friday (Jan. 21), we will call a meeting on Friday.”
Along with changing the district’s mask policy, board members voted to adopt the new Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) guidance that allows students and staff to return to school five days after they either receive a lab-confirmed positive COVID-19 test or start experiencing symptoms associated with the virus, as long as they are asymptomatic.
The returning student or staff member will be asked to wear a mask for five days after they return to school following an absence due to COVID-19.
“For little kids, and maybe some big kids, if you are going to cough and sneeze, it protects everybody a little bit,” Smith said. “We have teachers begging us to come back to school after testing positive with no symptoms. They begged us to do this because they said our kids depend on us and we want to be in school. If they can come back and wear a mask for five days, I think everybody will be better off for it.”
District COVID-19 numbers
The Fox district reported the following number of positive COVID-19 cases in each of its buildings as of this morning:
■ Antonia Elementary – 16 out of 558 students and staff members
■ Antonia Middle – 22 out of 576 students and staff members
■ Bridges – 22, student-and-staff population not listed
■ Hamrick Elementary – five out of 459 students and staff members
■ Don Earl Early Childhood Center – five, student-and-staff population not listed
■ Fox Elementary – six out of 446 students and staff members
■ Fox High – 32 out of 1,897 students and staff members
■ Fox Middle – 13 out of 701 students and staff members
■ Guffey Elementary – 13 out of 531 students and staff members
■ Hodge Elementary – eight out of 398 students and staff members
■ Lone Dell Elementary – seven out of 453 students and staff members
■ Meramec Heights Elementary – eight out of 531 students and staff members
■ Ridgewood Middle – seven out of 660 students and staff members
■ Rockport Elementary – 11 out of 492 students and staff members
■ Seckman Elementary – 13 out of 581 students and staff members
■ Seckman High – 51 out of 1,927 students and staff members
■ Seckman Middle – four out of 849 students and staff members
■ Sherwood Elementary – nine out of 411 students and staff members
■ Simpson Elementary – five out of 422 students and staff members.
Because of the recent surge in new COVID-19 cases, the Fox C-6 School District will again require students, staff and visitors to wear masks in buildings. The requirement, which is temporary, will begin Thursday (Jan. 13) and is expected to end Jan. 21.
Board of Education members voted 5-2 Tuesday night (Jan. 11) to put the temporary mandate in place.
Board members Carole Yount and Krystal Hargis voted against the requirement, saying they wanted masks to be required longer.
“I’m 100 percent for a mask requirement,” Yount said. “I felt like we should do it for a longer period of time. I would have preferred to require masks through the end of the month. I thought 10 more days would have been better.”
“I feel very strongly about protecting our kids and our staff,” Hargis said. “I think we could go to Feb. 1, which is our next board meeting.”
Board member April Moeckel made the motion to require masks through Jan. 21 after Superintendent Paul Fregeau told the board a doctor from Washington University who studies COVID-19 and another infectious disease specialist advised area superintendents that infections from the COVID-19 Omicron variant is projected to peak and then drop either at the end of this week or the end of next week.
Board member Michelle Chamberlain seconded Moeckel’s motion, and those two, along with board president Judy Smith, Jim Chellew and Vicki Hanson, voted in favor of the temporary mask mandate.
“I think it was a decision based on what I presented tonight, and I appreciate that,” Fregeau said. “I’m sure (the reaction to the requirement) will be mixed, like it has been since we have been doing this. Some will be thrilled, and some will not be so thrilled. We are just doing the best we can to make the best decision with the data we have at the time we make the decision.”
Smith agreed.
“I felt like we needed to do something,” she said of implementing the temporary mask mandate. “We are following two different doctors’ guidance. It will go through Jan. 21, when they are suggesting it is going to peak, and I think it will bring things down. I don’t want masks, but we were all at a consensus for just a little a while.”
The Fox district began this school year Aug. 25 requiring people to wear masks in buildings.
The board voted Nov. 18 to change the district’s mitigation policy to strongly recommend but not require masks in district buildings, unless the percentage of students and staff who have tested positive for COVID-19 at any district school rises above 2 percent. If buildings reach that positivity threshold, then masks are required at that building for at least 14 calendar days. The positivity rate would have to fall below that threshold before masks are optional again, according to the mitigation plan.
Prior to Tuesday night’s decision, the district had announced that nine of its schools had reached or surpassed the 2-percent positivity threshold and mask requirements were in place at those buildings – Fox Middle School in Arnold, Antonia Middle School in Barnhart, Seckman High School in Imperial, Hodge Elementary School in Imperial, Seckman Elementary School in Imperial, Rockport Heights Elementary School in Arnold, Sherwood Elementary School in Arnold, Antonia Elementary School in Imperial and Guffey Elementary School in Fenton.
The district has 17 schools, as well as the Don Earl Early Childhood Learning Center and Bridges alternative school.
The mask requirement started at Fox and Antonia middle schools Monday (Jan. 10) after each school reached the 2 percent threshold. The mask requirements at those schools already were scheduled to end Jan. 21 as long as the positivity rate falls below 2 percent by that date, according to the district’s COVID-19 mitigation strategy.
The mask requirement started at Seckman High, Hodge Elementary and Seckman Elementary on Tuesday after each school reached the 2 percent. The mask requirements are scheduled to end at those schools on Jan. 24 as long as the positivity rate falls below 2 percent.
The mask requirement started at Rockport Heights, Elementary, Antonia and Guffey elementary schools today (Jan. 12) and is scheduled to end Jan. 25 as long as the positivity rate falls below 2 percent by then.
Fregeau said the requirement will remain in place at the seven schools that have the rule in place past Jan. 21, and if another school passes the threshold during the temporary mask requirement, that school will have the mask requirement past Jan. 21.
Smith said if positive cases do not decrease after next week, the district may consider extending the districtwide masking requirement past Jan. 21.
“If we see that cases are still rising, we will call a meeting,” Smith said. “I will probably call Dr. Fregeau on Jan. 20 and say, ‘Where do we stand?’ If we need to call a meeting on Friday (Jan. 21), we will call a meeting on Friday.”
Along with changing the district’s mask policy, board members voted to adopt the new Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) guidance that allows students and staff to return to school five days after they either receive a lab-confirmed positive COVID-19 test or start experiencing symptoms associated with the virus, as long as they are asymptomatic.
The returning student or staff member will be asked to wear a mask for five days after they return to school following an absence due to COVID-19.
“For little kids, and maybe some big kids, if you are going to cough and sneeze, it protects everybody a little bit,” Smith said. “We have teachers begging us to come back to school after testing positive with no symptoms. They begged us to do this because they said our kids depend on us and we want to be in school. If they can come back and wear a mask for five days, I think everybody will be better off for it.”
District COVID-19 numbers
The Fox district reported the following number of positive COVID-19 cases in each of its buildings as of this morning:
■ Antonia Elementary – 16 out of 558 students and staff members
■ Antonia Middle – 22 out of 576 students and staff members
■ Bridges – 22, student-and-staff population not listed
■ Hamrick Elementary – five out of 459 students and staff members
■ Don Earl Early Childhood Center – five, student-and-staff population not listed
■ Fox Elementary – six out of 446 students and staff members
■ Fox High – 32 out of 1,897 students and staff members
■ Fox Middle – 13 out of 701 students and staff members
■ Guffey Elementary – 13 out of 531 students and staff members
■ Hodge Elementary – eight out of 398 students and staff members
■ Lone Dell Elementary – seven out of 453 students and staff members
■ Meramec Heights Elementary – eight out of 531 students and staff members
■ Ridgewood Middle – seven out of 660 students and staff members
■ Rockport Elementary – 11 out of 492 students and staff members
■ Seckman Elementary – 13 out of 581 students and staff members
■ Seckman High – 51 out of 1,927 students and staff members
■ Seckman Middle – four out of 849 students and staff members
■ Sherwood Elementary – nine out of 411 students and staff members
■ Simpson Elementary – five out of 422 students and staff members.
